We Sing: Rock Review

Christmas is coming and anyone with a Wii will surely be rolling that console out over the holiday period. We Sing: Rock is the latest addition to the We Sing series, so if you’ve got any of the previous editions you may well be considering going out and purchase this. Just like the other We Sing games, the genre of songs can be guessed from the title, i.e. We Sing: Rock.

Essentially, this is the same game as We Sing: UK Hits, but this time with purely rock songs. For the uninitiated, the We Sing series is Wii karaoke just like Singstar on the PS3. There are various versions already available, or soon to be made available, like We Sing: UK Hits and We Sing: Pop. The difference between We Sing: Rock and We Sing: UK Hits is just the song choice, the control mechanics and input remain exactly the same, so if you’ve played We Sing: UK Hits then you already know how to play We Sing: Rock and know what to expect.

Just like We Sing: UK Hits, We Sing: Rock has a number of songs to get to grips with. In fact there are 40 titles on offer scaling a varied spectrum of rock hits. Some of the singles include: Alice Cooper – Poison, Bloc Party – The Prayer, The Darkness – I Believe in a Thing Called Love, Elvis Pressley – Suspicious Minds, Europe – The Final Countdown, Kasabian – Underdog, Limp Bizkit – Rollin’, Meredith Brooks – Bitch, The Offspring – Pretty Fly (For a White Guy), Paramore – Ignorance, Survivor – Eye of The Tiger, Wheatus – Teenage Dirtbag. So, as you can see, there is enough here for every rocker and rockette.

There’s a range of modes to play, such as We Sing, which is where two or more players can sing together as a particular artist or on different parts of the song. Versus, is a straight head-to-head showdown, while Group Battle is the same as Versus but you play in groups. In First to X, the first player to reach a designated points total wins, and in Pass the Mic each player is passed the microphone. Blind has you battling against other players, but this time the lyrics & sounds randomly disappear, while Marathon allows you sing a specific playlist of songs and, finally, Expert tests you by presenting no on screen pitch bars and no on screen lyrics.

Arguably the best mode is Blind, because it can be quite entertaining to see someone attempt to sing as the lyrics/sound disappears! You can play songs all the way through or play a short version, although it’s a shame you can’t choose to sing particular parts of a song. There is also the standard mode where you learn how to sing, and thankfully it caters for both players with high and deep pitches. There is a minor issue with expletives within lyrics because they seem to be censored which dilutes the We Sing: Rock experience a tad.

We Sing: Rock! states it has ‘anti-cheating’ technology just like We Sing: UK Hits, i.e. you can’t just make a noise to do well, you need to be in the right pitch. It seems to work at a fundamental level, but bad singers do seem to do better than they should more often that not. As a single player game, We Sing: Rock is not one to recommend, but it’s in group scenarios that We Sing: Rock is at its best. There are awards to unlock when you do well, but these are only novel features seen a thousand times in better games. We Sing: Rock is not going to change the mindset of gamers who don’t enjoy casual games, but it will appeal to the party crowd.

We Sing: Rock unfortunately suffers from the same issues that previous iterations of the series have suffered from, i.e. We Sing: Rock is an average game that doesn’t quite have the razzmatazz to reach an X Factor final. That being said, We Sing: Rock, along with the rest of the We Sing series, is the best of its kind on the Wii. The rock branding rubs off very quickly and you are left with a title that offers nothing new and is happy to be that mediocre karaoke singer you see on a Thursday night down your local.

We Sing: Rock has enough about itself to keep ahead of the competition and if you haven’t got the Xbox 360 or PS3 equivalent available then it can add to a party atmosphere. However, be wary that We Sing: Rock is a very average game that is averagely presented and, as such, the experience is an average one. If you were going to compare it to the Top 40 rock music chart, then We Sing: Rock is very like an old 80’s rock group continuing to release mediocre hits that are filling stadiums and still being bought by an avid but limited fan base.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Nintendo Wii code was provided to Bonus Stage for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to press@4gn.co.uk.